742. The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



Remarkable Trees 



Probably the finest tree in the British Isles is the one growing at Barton, Bury 

 St. Edmunds, which in 1908 was 95 feet in height by 13 feet 3 inches in girth. This 

 tree (Plate 214) is very symmetrical, branched to the ground, and in full vigour, 

 though probably it has nearly attained its limit of height, as the top of the crown of 

 foliage is flattened. This is one of the original plants raised at Luscombe, and 

 was planted at Barton in 1838, being then about thirteen or fourteen years old. 

 According to Bunbury,^ it did not suffer in the slightest degree from the severe 

 winter of i860. In 1857, it was 35 feet in height ; and in 1858 began to bear cones, 

 which are confined to the topmost of the lateral branchlets. In 1867, the height 

 had increased to 58 feet, and the trunk at three feet from the ground was 7 feet in 

 girth. Seedlings have been frequently raised from its seed. One of these seedlings, 

 which was sent many years ago to Lord Rayleigh, is now growing at Terling Place, 

 Essex, and measures 53 feet high and 3 feet 3 inches in girth. 



Another of the original trees is now growing at Luscombe Castle, near Dawlish, 

 in a rather exposed place, about 200 feet above sea level ; when I saw it, in April 

 1908, it was a healthy and well-shaped tree, 75 feet by 1 1 feet. 



There is a very fine healthy tree at Blount's Court, Oxfordshire, which Henry 

 measured in 1907, as 87 feet in height by 10 feet 8 inches in girth. Another planted 

 at the Coppice, Henley, in i860, measured in 1905, 62 feet high by S^ feet in girth. 

 At Pampisford, Cambridgeshire, there are two trees, the larger of which was, in 1908, 

 55 feet by 6 feet i inch. The Cephalonian fir has been largely planted on Lord 

 Walsingham's estate at Merton, Norfolk, the largest specimen, 52 feet by 9 feet 

 7 inches, dating from 1852. On the Thetford road there is an avenue of these trees, 

 growing in loose, shallow sand, which have attained at forty-eight years old an 

 average girth of 8^ feet. The growth of the tap-root is stopped by the compact 

 chalk sub-soil, wide-spreading horizontal roots being formed, which have no great 

 hold in the shifting sand ; and several trees have been uprooted by storms. 



At Heron Court, near Christchurch, I measured in 1906 a very large tree with 

 ragged top, 82 feet by 10 feet 8 inches. At Beauport, Sussex, there is a good tree, 

 which in 1904 was about 80 feet high by 10 feet 3 inches in girth. 



At Powderham there is a very large and spreading, but ill-shaped tree, which 

 appears as though in the mild, soft climate of south Devon it would not be long 

 lived. In 1892 it was recorded as the largest in Great Britain, being then 77 feet 

 by 1 1 feet at 3 feet from the ground. 



At Killerton there is a large tree which measured in 1903 80 feet by 

 II feet 9 inches. It forks at about 25 feet. At Highclere another, in the same 

 year, measured 75 feet by 11 feet. At High Canons, Herts, Mr. H. Clinton Baker 

 measured a tree in 1908, which was 58 feet by 8 feet 3 inches. At Bayfordbury, 

 a tree planted in 1847 was 70 feet by 6 feet 1 1 inches in 1905. 



At Castle Kennedy there is a very wide-spreading tree, which in 1904 measured 



* Arboretmn Notes, 144. 



